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Absence
Time in the deserts Durant heads into the forest after the attack and shortly before Yulash's vanishing. On route towards the ruins of the fabled 'City of Song' he finds himself transported far south to one of the many desert regions long beyond even Amn. Unsure if it was an old portal or if he stepped into the exit of a new one as someone was coming through, he finds himself in strange lands with little knowledge of them. After two full days of being lost he sees what looke like smoke over a large dune on the horizon. Some hours later instead of finding a caravan as hoped he stands before a twisting column of sand some 40 feet high, thinking it a natural phenomenon he attampts to bypass only to have it surge upon him. Attempting to shield himself from the blast he finds his hood pulled back, arms flung wide and lifted up into the column. After some minutes he is dropped to the ground, his face, hands, and forearms battered by the sand to the point of looking more like a human who has seen four score years of quarry work. Worst of all he finds himself unable to see anything, floundering around in the sand like a fish on the dockside, trying to gather his bearings he collapses from shock and injury. He comes to later, slowly sitting up to assess his surroundings he finds himself still unable to see. "The demon of the sand took your eyes" a small elderly voice beside him says. Reaching his hands to his face he feels his way up the now worn and cracked skin until he can feel that as told his eyes are no longer there, worn callaused skin covers the sockets. Asking what happened his rescuer tells him of a spirit that feeds by blinding those it comes across so it can prey on their fear and stalk them for many days drawing out the agony. It happens the old man is a silk merchant, finding Durant he thought him dead and was going to scavange what he could before the sand took him. However of feeling breath he brought him to the next trading stop and has been here for the past 3 days waiting. Durant spends the next few weeks with the merchant, travelling north along the tradeway becoming slowly accustomed to his lack of sight. He then changes to other caravans and heads towards Calisham, Tethyr, Westgate, and finally a ship back to the Dales over the next two years. In this time he is forced to rely on his other senses and becomes very proficent at them, along the way he meets with a number of companions. The first being a secretive group of bandits who at first think him an easy mark, after he cathes them in the act a grudging respect grows and they take him into their own showing him ways of not just hiding but becoming one with the shadows themselves. His last companion of the journey is a priest of Tyr, and they become close friends. Just before parting ways in Westgate the priest conducts a ceremony and ritual to help Durant, after which he finds himself still blind pysically but now able to see in a form of aura reading. While he may not notice things such as a persons face smiling, he can see in his mind how their moods change. This with his honed hearing and touch leaves him now able to 'see' better than before the assult of sand. Category:Stories